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Academic studies play a central role in determining socioeconomic status in Western society. Nevertheless, most research had focused on factors of academic achievement and paid less attention to factors of actual registration for academic studies. Reasons for choosing to enrol in academic studies are particularly important for understanding majority and minority group differences in rates of registration for such studies and helping promote ethnic groups. The present research, conducted with undergraduate students in Israel, examined differences between students of Jewish and Arab origin in terms of their reasons for undertaking studies. First, qualitative interviews were held with 50 students from the two groups about their reasons for choosing to study. Based on thematic analysis of the interviews, a quantitative questionnaire was developed. It was administered to 367 students from the two groups. The data indicate several differences between the groups, but also reveal opposite directions of correlations in the two groups, corresponding with different family situations. Some possible explanations are suggested for the associations of the groups, family status, and reasons for studying, and the theoretical and methodological implications of these associations are discussed.

The present research examined the application of EBP in homeschooling, by comparing the attitudes and views of homeschool inspectors and homeschooling parents regarding academic, emotional, and social issues with the findings of the relevant research. The results indicated a considerable gap between the views of the inspectors and parents and the research-based evidence. A significant difference was also found between the views of the inspectors and those of the parents regarding the effects of homeschooling, where each group held unequivocal views that contradicted those of the other. The discussion suggests possible explanations and implications of these findings.

In the late 20th century, an interesting phenomenon appeared on the landscape of western education: parents chose to educate their children at home rather than send them to school. Numerous studies were published on the subject in recent decades. However, most of them examine home schooling from the parents' perspective. This study is unique as it seeks to understand the attitudes of teenagers towards learning, home schooling, and school education, and uses metaphors to do so. It seeks to utilize the ability of metaphors to assemble authentic, unfiltered experiences by those most affected by the choice in home schooling -- the home-schooled children themselves. Fifteen home-schooled children were asked to describe metaphors regarding learning, home schooling, and school. Analysis of the data yielded several meta-categories such as food, nature, movement, sports, and more. Similarities and differences between metaphors described for learning, home schooling, and schooling are discussed.

In modern society, academic success is closely associated with achievement. In order to help students realise their potential, it is essential to understand the factors that promote academic success. The research literature indicates several factors that are associated with academic success, including learning strategies, self-direction, and social involvement. Little attention has been paid to the differential effect that these factors may have on students with different personality traits and levels of ability. The present study examined the learning, self-management, and social learning strategies of 199 second-year undergraduate students, and the relationship between these strategies and their grades over a period of two and a half years. In addition, the personality characteristics and aptitude of the students were also assessed. The findings indicated a correlation of self-management strategies and those associated with the learning environment with grades, and highlighted the importance of social strategies in certain situations. The theoretical implications of the findings and their practical implications for guiding and assisting students are discussed.

Achievement goal theory is one of the major theories of the relationship between learners' perception of learning processes and their academic achievements. The present research was focused on the relationship between learners' goals and the academic achievements of Hebrew-speaking students, who belong to the majority group, and Arabic-speaking students, who belong to the minority group. The research also combined personality measures and measures of ability of the students, in order to better understand the relationships among the variables in the two groups. Matched samples of 104 students from each group were studied. The data were collected at the beginning of the second year of studies and the students were then monitored for 2 years. The findings indicate that among the Hebrew-speaking students, the level of performance goals was higher that among the Arabic-speaking students. In both groups, different learning goals contributed to the explained variance in final grades.

The examination of academic achievements is common in educational research literature, with most studies referring to grades (marks) as measures of success. In addition, outside the realm of research, a student's grades are usually the main criteria for admission to education programmes, nomination for honours (passing above ordinary level), award of scholarships and so forth. However, scholars have put forward several arguments against the use of grades as the sole or most important measure of academic success. This research note focuses on a specific aspect of this problem, namely the failure to consider learners' personal perspective regarding their own achievements. Many approaches to evaluating achievements call for their examination in light of previously defined goals. However, each learner defines her or his aspirations and goals differently, while achievements are usually measured on a uniform scale. This research note reviews this problem and considers alternative models (including both their advantages and their shortcomings) for defining academic success in terms of expectations and motivation. In addition, the author proposes a measure to enable the evaluation of academic achievements in terms of an individual student's goals and aspirations.

The practice of home education has expanded considerably and international research has shown that different families perform home education in very different ways. Nevertheless, there has been no examination to date of the relationship between the type of home education practised and the emotional and behavioural aspects of children. The research examined this question by investigating the structure of the home education practised--the degree of daily routine and educational goal orientation in the family--as well as the emotional and behavioural problems of 65 home-educated children in Israel. The results indicated that the existence of a daily routine and educational goal orientation in the home correlated with fewer emotional and behavioural problems. The findings suggest a relationship between the structure of home education and the emotional and behavioural world of the child. In the light of the absence of previous research on this relationship, the present results are relevant to both the theoretical understanding of this subject and the practice of those involved in home education in different countries of the world.

There is extensive research-based evidence that academic satisfaction is a central factor in students’ degree of investment, ability to apply study material, probability of dropping out of studies, academic achievements, and more. Several models include factors that underly academic satisfaction and correlations have been found between numerous factors and such satisfaction. However, the joint contribution of these factors to student satisfaction has not been investigated. This article examined the joint contribution of self-efficacy, achievements, threshold grade for success, and evaluation of lecturers among 408 undergraduate studies of social sciences in Israel. At the beginning of the semester, students’ expectations regarding their grades, level of self-efficacy, conscientiousness, and evaluation of lecturers were examined; at the end of the semester, their grades and satisfaction were examined. In addition to the relationships between the variables, mediation was also found, indicating interactions among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeschooled children spend more time than schooled children with their parents and siblings, which may, in turn, affect their attitudes about the family. In fact, earlier research has shown that fostering familial ideals is one of the central aims of parents who homeschool. Yet, few studies have been conducted about the ways homeschooled children relate to their family members and understand the family. The purpose of the present research was to use metaphor analysis to examine the attitudes of Israeli homeschooled adolescents towards their families. Twenty-four homeschooled individuals aged 15 to 21 participated in the research. The data were analysed in two stages. First, we identified the metaphors that were used to describe their families. We then analysed the interpretations of the metaphors. The adolescents in the sample viewed their families as a source of knowledge; stability and security; guidance and assistance with development; support with life’s diffculties; familiarity and connection; as well as a mixture of pleasantness and unpleasantness. Overall, the adolescents in our analytic sample held positive attitudes towards their families and expressed deep gratitude for and connection with their siblings and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased scope and percentage of children being homeschooled raise questions about the impact of this framework on the child's world. One of the issues that has not been adequately studied with regard to homeschooling is whether the emotional and personal problems of parents have greater impact on children who are homeschooled. The present research, conducted in Israel, examined this question from the perspective of attachment theory, which focuses on how people relate to intimate relationships. Previous research has shown an association between the attachment of parents and emotional and behavioral characteristics of their children. Against this background, the present research compared a group of homeschooling mothers and children with a group of mothers who sent their children to school (a total of 101 children; mean age, 9.2 years). These groups did not differ in age and socioeconomic status. The comparison focused on variables beyond these and also considered the degree of structure of the homeschooling practiced. The findings indicated a correlation between mother's attachment anxiety and internalizing and externalizing problems of the child. However, no correlation was found between attachment avoidance and these problems, and no difference was found between the two groups in terms of these correlations. The results contribute, among other things, to understanding the association between homeschooling and behavioral and emotional problems.

Research has indicated significant disparities in the academic achievement of minority and majority groups in most Western countries. In light of the role of academic achievement as the main component of social mobility, it is important to understand the source of these differences between the majority and minority groups. The present research focused on learning goals as a possible basis for the disparity in academic achievement. It examined the learning goals of matched groups of students of Jewish and Arab Israelis who were enrolled in the same academic institution, and followed their academic achievement for two years. The findings indicate a gap between the groups in terms of achievement in favour of the students from the Jewish majority group. No difference was found between the groups in learning goals, but the level of intrinsic goal orientation was associated with achievement differently in the two groups. Possible explanations and implications of the findings are discussed.

The homeschool framework differs significantly from the traditional school setting. Earlier research has shown differences between homeschooled and other children in language skills, but no study has examined how homeschooling is related to the acquisition of the different components of reading. The present research examined several reading skills, comparing these two groups. The findings indicated that the homeschooled children achieved lower results in reading comprehension, but not in listening comprehension. The homeschooled children were also found to have broader general knowledge than the other children did. The gap between the groups in reading was associated with lower levels of phonological awareness. These findings might be attributed to the different methods used to teach reading in the two frameworks.

Home schooling has become increasingly widespread in recent decades. Much research has been conducted regarding different aspects of the practice, including parents' reasons for choosing home schooling. These are often quantitative studies that directly examine these reasons and frequently cite rational reasons. In contrast, the present research is a qualitative study that examined stories in order to understand the initial reasons underlying the decision of parents to educate their children at home. An analysis of interviews with 25 mothers who home school their children yielded numerous reasons for home schooling, including some that have not been cited in the research literature. Unlike previous studies, the present examination indicated two categories: rational, deliberate change and arbitrary change. The use of open research tools that indirectly inquire about the reasons for choosing home schooling enabled the identification of a second category, arbitrary change. The implications of these results for researchers of home schooling, home-schooling families and policy-makers are discussed.

Various aspects of human existence are changing, and these changes are having a significant effect on the current and future labor market. Some occupations are estimated to be at high risk of disappearing over the next several decades, others are at medium risk, while some are at low risk. At the same time, new trades are emerging. In order to successfully cope in an era where changes occur so frequently and so rapidly, and to be a part of the current and future labor market, we need to utilize a certain set of skills and competencies that is often referred to as "21st century skills". This opinion paper argues that homeschooling is an education path that takes into account the extensive rapid changes in the 21st century as well as in the labor market and strives to give children the skills and competencies to cope with them successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeschooling has been expanding in many countries in the western world, especially in the United States and in England. Studies have shown that there are different types of homeschooling, with different influences on the outcome of the educational process. However, the research to date has ignored the effects of parents' personality and background on the practice of homeschooling, despite extensive evidence of the important role of these factors in shaping the educational orientation of parents. The present study focused on the impact of different aspects of parents' personality and socioeconomic status on the type of homeschooling they chose. The findings indicated, among other things, that mother's education correlated positively with more structured homeschooling, and family income and conscientiousness both correlated positively with more structure in daily routine and in homeschooling.

In modern society, a large part of the socialization process occurs in schools. Therefore, one of the most significant questions raised with regard to homeschooling concerns the impact of this type of education on the emotional world of the child. However, there is almost no mention in the research of how the nature of the social activity of homeschooled children affects their emotional world. In the present research, we examined the quantity and character of the social interactions of homeschooled children and their influence on the children's emotional and behavioral problems. The findings suggested a negative correlation between meetings with other homeschooled children and emotional and behavioral problems, and a similar relationship between the child's number of siblings and such problems. In comparison, we found a relationship between meetings with school-going children and such problems only in the younger age group, and only with regard to problems of internalization.

Homeschooling is an alternative to conventional education in many countries all over the world, though legal regulations vary. This article examines why parents opt for homeschooling. The large body of research on the topic (especially from the United States) points to a variety of reasons for making the choice to homeschool. The most common reasons are of a pedagogical nature, but in many cases they are also family-related. What has not yet been investigated in depth is the relationship between the different reasons for choosing homeschooling and the way in which homeschooling is practised. There is also a lack of research on the relationship between the reasons for choosing homeschooling and the parents' personalities, educational background and attitudes towards both homeschooling in particular and the education system in general. Using a mixed methods design in order to examine these relationships, the authors of this article questioned 62 homeschooling families in Israel. The findings indicate that some parents chose to homeschool for pedagogical reasons only and others for both pedagogical and family-related reasons. Furthermore, the latter group held more positive views of the effect of homeschooling on children--and the mothers in that group, on average, were more educated compared with those who cited pedagogical reasons alone. The reasons for choosing homeschooling were also found to be associated with the character of the homeschooling practice, with families whose reasons were pedagogical only devoting more hours, on average, specifically to studying.

This article explores the meanings parents attribute to homeschooling. The literature reveals two main approaches to this subject: a view of homeschooling as a pedagogical practice and a holistic perspective. Employing qualitative methodologies, we administered in-depth interviews to 30 mothers who engaged in homeschooling in Israel, in order to gain a better understanding of what homeschooling meant to them. Analysis of the interviews indicated that the participants attributed diverse meanings to homeschooling. These represented many themes, which were gathered into four super-themes: control, lifestyle, family, and child. The first two themes were emphasized more often than the latter two.

In recent decades, parental involvement in their children's education has been steadily increasing. Perhaps the ultimate form of parental involvement is the phenomenon called elective home education--EHE (also known as homeschooling). It is customary to divide EHE into two categories according to the degree of structure: "structured EHE" and "unstructured EHE" (or "unschooling"). Advocates of structured learning study in the home framework according to a defined curriculum, whereas unstructured learning advocates study content determined in accordance with the child's wishes, with no external dictates. This division relates to learning as one entity. This article proposes to distinguish between two dimensions of structure: content and process. In order to demonstrate this distinction, qualitative research was conducted in which 30 mothers who educate their children at home were interviewed and asked what they actually do within the framework of EHE. The research findings suggest that the two types of EHE are indeed different from one another with regard to the structure of the content of instruction and learning as well as the structure of the process. The article addresses the importance of broadening the traditional distinction (structured and unstructured EHE) to include content and process.

Much attention has been focused recently on the deepening crisis in the education system. Researchers have attributed these problems to the school environment. One method for examining this claim is to compare specific emotional and behavior problems among children who attend schools and children who do not. This study examined three aspects of children's emotional world--emotional and behavioral problems, depression, and attachment security--in a group of children attending school and a group of homeschooled children, matched for socioeconomic background and research procedure. The findings indicated a lower level of depression among the homeschooled children; no difference was found between the groups in attachment security. With respect to emotional and behavioral problems, no difference was found in internalizing problems, but more externalizing problems were found among the school-going than the homeschooled children, in 9-10-year-olds and 11-12-year-olds, but not in 6-8-year-olds.

This article examines the educational objectives of parents who homeschool (or practice home education) in terms of the widely accepted division of primary educational objectives, namely, socialisation, acculturation, and individualization. Using qualitative methodology and in-depth interviews, 30 homeschooling mothers were interviewed about their educational goals. The findings indicated that a significant number of the objectives cites by the interviewees were associated with the primary objective of individualization. In some cases, parents were interested in achieving goals of socialisation and acculturation in their children's education. This analysis may help identify the pedagogical ideology of parents who chose to homeschool, thus informing the policy-making. In addition, the case of homeschooling offers an example of the struggle among the three primary objectives of education, against the backdrop of far-reaching changes underway around the world in the post-modern era, which poses a challenge for educational policymakers, as well as school systems.

Home education is a phenomenon in which children of varying ages are educated at home rather than in a formal school environment. This phenomenon is becoming increasingly widespread throughout the western world. Research in this field is divided between studying pedagogic aspects and holistic aspects of home education. A group of 30 home educating mothers was asked, in semi-structured interviews, to describe the outcome of home education for their children. The findings show the mothers adhere to a social constructivist world view, as shown in the areas they emphasise in the context of the home education outcomes. This article describes the study, presents its findings according to attributes of the constructivist view on educating and learning, and explains the importance of the role these findings have in understanding the home education phenomenon.

In recent decades there has been a considerable increase in the scope of homeschooling in many Western countries. However, it has not been consistent among all sectors of society, but rather concentrated in certain groups. It is a growing trend among Jewish Israeli society, but has not taken hold among Israeli Druze. This article examines the reasons that Druze society in Israel has not been part of the considerable increase in the practice of teaching children at home. Several theoretical perspectives for understanding these differences are suggested and investigated, focusing on the unique characteristics of Druze society in Israel and of the secret Druze religion, as well as on feminist perspectives and the developments in Druze women's status in recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]